My Little Blind Princess

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Goldie

Goldie

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I am sure many of you already know about Princess, my little blind sow, from my thread and piccies on the rescue thread.

Well today, I was very shocked and surprised to find out that Princess is pregnant. Obviously because she is so young and blind, I am very worried about her. :(

I kept saying to my family that she had a fatter tummy than their sister, Panda, and thought it was because she was always eating. However, today the thought came to me to check her over thoroughly. I sat her on my lap and now I am in no doubt that she is pregnant as I can feel the babies moving. I have also checked her pelvic bones and they feel quite open.

I rescued her on the 13 June when she was 7 weeks old so basically she is only 14 weeks old! I have owned her for 7 weeks. I knew she was in with many other piggies but I thought, stupidly, that it was only sows she was with. Obviously, it wasn't and I can only guess that the father of her litter will be her father inbreeding

I am so worried about her. She is so small, vulnerable and blind. How is she going to cope? Will the babies be blind? Will she manage to remove them from the birth sacs? I am in a "right 2 and 8" about it! :red

I am a responsible owner. Shaun, who Princess and Panda live with, has been neutered and I waited 6 weeks post-op before he was allowed to live with them and that was on 13 July, so he can't be the father.

Any help, advice or comfort would be appreciated as I am so concerned about her welfare. I love her dearly and would hate to lose her, or the babies, because she is so little!
 
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I'm sorry I can't advise you on this. You must be very worried. I'm sure someone else will know what to suggest, with how you can help her etc. She may well be an excellent mummy!
 
OH no....... poor little girlie...........
look i'm sure she'll be fine but our lovely people on here will help you out. you could also pop up a thread in the pregnancy section, lots of people there who know all about it xxxxxxxxx
HUGS and gentle kisses for little Princess xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Oh, poor little Princess! :0 :0 You must be worried sick about her.....I know that I would be a nervous wreck. But it is very true.....she may well sail through it and be an absolutely brilliant Mum! :) I will be keeping all of my fingers VERY firmly crossed for little Princess and her babies.....and will be watching very anxiously for updates! x
 
What a worry for you - I agree with Glynis, I would put a thread up in the Pregnancy and Labour board. Alternatively, give me a shout and I'll move this one over for you. I'm sorry, I have no experience of pregnancy, but I'm sure someone will be long to help soon. :)
 
Thanks everyone ... I will pop a thread into the Pregnancy and Labour section.

I got up at 3.15am to go into my shed to check on Princess ... I am so worried that she will be too tiny to deliver the babies and I will lose her! :(:(
 
What a shock for you!

I rescued Betty, who was only a baby herself, and she was pregnant by her father (don't ask - owners thought she was a boy!). She was tiny when I got her and looked far too small to carry babies, bless her. She gave birth to 2 babies, unfortunately one did not survive - she rejected it and despite my best attempts to rear it, she died after a week. However the other one is fit and healthy and living with his dad / grandad!

All you can do is make sure she's getting all the right foods, lots of fresh veg. I always give Raspberry leaf to pregnant sows and Milk Thistle when they're lactating... you can get these from Pampered Piggies.

If she's blind herself and the babies are in-bred, I'm not sure what the risks are - I guess it's a case of fingers crossed and hope for the best!

Good luck, let us know how she gets on

Sophie
x
 
If her bones are open, then you won't have long to wait. As long as Princess is well in herself, then hopefully she will be fine even being only a youngster herself. Guinea pigs are surprisingly resilient(sp?) little things :)

I would leave her with her cage mate(s) as they will help when she litters down, though you may want to remove your boy for a while as although neutered he may still try to have his 'way' with her and disturb/confuse things.

I've never had to deal with a blind, pregnant piggy but I would try to follow the same guidelines for her as I would a sighted piggy - though I would possibly try to be present for the birth just incase.

Good Luck!
 
Gosh what a worry, i currently have one of my extrememly young sows pregnant and I am very worried too. Of course princess with her problems is more of a worry :( hugs to you and her

i am going to try and be present at the birth of mine even if its in the middle of the night as i'm terrified of something going wrong.

i would also remove the boar or perhaps you could put a divider up so he can see the girls but not attempt to mount them :)) boars!
 
starla said:
Gosh what a worry, i currently have one of my extrememly young sows pregnant and I am very worried too. Of course princess with her problems is more of a worry :( hugs to you and her

i am going to try and be present at the birth of mine even if its in the middle of the night as i'm terrified of something going wrong.

i would also remove the boar or perhaps you could put a divider up so he can see the girls but not attempt to mount them :)) boars!
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Hope all goes well for your mum-2-be ... it is a worry when they are so young!

Let us know how things go xx
 
Princess had two babies yesterday morning between 5 am (I know because I was up and checking on her on 5 am zzz) and 9 am.

Princess is fine. Unfortunately one baby ... a little sow was dead .... but mum has a fine handsome son who weighed in a just over 3 oz. Considering she only weighed 15 oz (or 0.4 kg) herself today, I think she did a fab job!

He has been named Junior and he has a crest on his head but looks very much like Princess in his colouring. He is a real little tinker!

Princess mothered him straightaway and spent ages licking him to clean him up. She is feeding him all the time and in fact, she is so keen on him, that she pops her foot on him gently hold him down x)

I am so pleased that she is ok. I had no idea that she was pregnant, or indeed so far advanced with her pregnancy. She concealed it well under her fur, although she was coming out in the run most days, I just didn't give it a thought.

Anyway I will post a photo of Junior very soon.
 
ah congratulations sorry about the other little one sounds like shes doing a fab jobx>>x>>
 
Congratulations to you and Princess. I'm so sorry the other little one didn't make it. x
 
I am SO happy that your Princess made it through fine, and that she is being a great Mum! :) So sorry to hear about the poor little one that didn't make it. :( Can't WAIT to see a pic of the baby! :)
 
I'm so glad Princess is o.k., and whilst it is very sad about the littl'un who didn't survive, perhaps it's Nature's way of ensuring that Princess can give one-to-one mothering to Junior. As she's blind, it may have been more difficult for her to manage with two?
 
sueg said:
I'm so glad Princess is o.k., and whilst it is very sad about the littl'un who didn't survive, perhaps it's Nature's way of ensuring that Princess can give one-to-one mothering to Junior. As she's blind, it may have been more difficult for her to manage with two?
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Congratulations to mumma Princess, Junior and Goldie! I'm sorry to hear about the other baby, I was thinking the same thing as sueg! I'm sure these two will be fine. Please keep us updated and post a pic or two? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx love to all three of you plus Panda (Is she enjoying being an aunty?) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
congratulations to you and Princess, and very sorry to hear about the mini that didn't make it :( Lovely to hear Princess is doing such a good job with junior though x
 
congrats! sorry to hear about the baby sow.

glad princess is loving her new found role as a mother such a pleasure! cant wait for piccies!
 
Congratulations on Princess's new baby boy and sorry to hear about the little sow that didn't make it. I think that happens sometimes when they are very young themselves. I had a litter a few years ago and although we had the piggies upstairs and we knew they were giving birth - my daughter was keeping an eye on them cos we had visitors and she came down to tell me the first one had been born but it had the bag over it and by the time I got upstairs and got the bag off the poor little thing had died - I was so upset because it was a black and white sow and looked like its dad who had unfortunately died a few weeks before.:( She managed the other three though, although a few days after they were born, she got pneumonia and died too.:( so we had to hand rear the piggies.
 
Congrats on the baby! :) I'm so glad he's okay. Poor little one who passed away, RIP xx

Do you think the baby is blind too?
 
Thanks all .... here's some photos which I have also posted in the Pregnancy and Labour section.

The first three photos were taken within a few hours of Junior's birth after he was all nicely cleaned by Princess (yes, he has been named after Jordan and Peter Andre's son, just like Princess was named after their daughter :red :))). Junior has lovely big clear dark eyes, which was a real relief to me .... what a handsome little chappy! :)

Princess seems so little now but she has excelled at motherhood and in fact I think it has helped her not be so anxious when Panda and Shaun go near her. It has given her confidence - bless her!

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And today Junior with Princess nibbling on some lush grass which I picked for them ...

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